Sonya Wilson
“I was in bed, sleepless at 3.00 am one night, when I had the idea for Kiwi Christmas Books…
This was in 2019. I was lying there thinking about how to rewrite a short story that was due in for my uni course and my thoughts moved onto other writers’ stories and then to how mind-expanding the best books can be. I thought about all the great stories and books my own kids have, and about how unfair it is that so many children don’t have good access to books and that there are kids who have never had a book that’s theirs to keep.
I decided to buy and donate some books to the Auckland City Mission. I said to friends and family that if they wanted to do this too, I could collect their books. Then, I talked to a couple of booksellers in Auckland, where I live, and asked them to put up a poster and help me collect donations. Word spread. What I thought was going to be a little, one-off, good deed at Christmas became a grassroots literature project to collect donations of brand new books each year at Christmas and gift them to children who would otherwise go without.
In that first year, and into the second, more and more booksellers came onboard – Kiwi Christmas Books is great for booksellers too because it promotes reading and helps increase book sales at Christmas. I also decided to ask people, where possible, to buy and donate books written and published in New Zealand. There are so many great New Zealand books and if we are supporting young Kiwi readers, why not support Kiwi writers and illustrators too. It’s a tough gig, being a writer in New Zealand. Something I’ve understood better over the last couple of years working on my own novel Spark Hunter. Writers in this country often spend years creating work for very little financial reward.
It’s also really good for children to be able to read New Zealand books. Not exclusively — it’s important to read about other cultures, different worlds and lives too — but to be able to immerse yourself in stories that celebrate or reflect your identity, your community and life can be really affirming.
I’ve witnessed some incredible acts of generosity, through Kiwi Christmas Books. In 2019, when I’d just set it up with my local bookseller, Time Out, the team there messaged to say a customer had bought and donated $500 worth of books. Another person sent me 20 brand new books with a note that read: “I’m a doctor at Starship Hospital, so I know how important books are, and how many kids are missing out.” Last year, an Auckland business gave an incredible $5,000 on behalf of their staff to spend on New Zealand books and publisher Penguin Random House New Zealand gave each of the 21 participating bookstores $100 to donate books. We’re hoping more businesses might want to make collective donations like that again this year, especially as lockdowns may mean many people are unable to make it to bookshops themselves.
We collect books all over the country (shout out to Southland and Hamilton where huge donations were made last year) and deliver them to city missions, refuges and Family Works organisations which distribute the books to families. I’ve received a fair few lovely emails from charity bosses, like this note (which made me cry a bit when I read it out again in a speech I gave on Kiwi Christmas Books last year at a conference – very embarrassing):
“I know that a brand new book will be viewed as a precious treasure by our children. It’s heart-breaking thinking about it especially in my privileged position and the privileged position of my own children. Thank you for your efforts. I just wanted you to know that your efforts will have a big impact.”
It’ll be tougher this year. In parts of the country people may not be able to physically enter bookshops, and many might not have the means to donate as much. But the need out there this year for our books is significant, so we’re pushing on. If you’re stuck in lockdown, you can still help by buying and donating online – all the participating booksellers, and their online stores, are on www.kiwichristmasbooks.org.nz. So, if you can, buy books this Christmas – buy them for all the kids you know, and all the kids you don’t.”
Sonya Wilson is the brains behind Kiwi Christmas Books and author of Spark Hunter.